URI, PC Avoid Postseason Bans with Perfect Academic Progress Scores

The men’s basketball programs at Providence College and the University of Rhode Island were on an academic road that threatened to make them in eligible for the NCAA Tournament, but coaching changes and a renewed academic focus led both programs to perfect Academic Progress Report scores in the 2012-13 academic year.

Both teams received a perfect APR score of 1000, bringing their multi-year averages above the threshold needed to qualify for postseason play. The 2013-14 APR scores will be released in the Fall and will be the final hurdle for both programs as they attempt to overcome academic issues that also coincided with disappointing on-court performances in the final years of previous coaching regimes.

NCAA Sets the Bar

In order to compete in the 2014-15 postseason, teams must achieve either a 930 multi-year APR or a 940 average over the most recent two years. PC’s current multi-year average is 947, and URI’s is 932.

“We are proud of the academic success of all our student-athletes,” Athletics Director Bob Driscoll said in a statement to GoLocalProv. “Six of our athletic teams finished in the top 10 percent of the multi-year APR and received a NCAA APR Public Recognition Award. All the academic success is a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes, coaches and support staff.”

PC’s APR score has risen steadily over the past 4 years. The Friars scored a 904 in 2009-10, a 917 in 2010-11 (Keno Davis’ final year), a 929 in 2011-12, and a 1000 in 2012-13. They look to be perfectly safe from NCAA sanctions when they drop the 904 score for their 2013-14 score when calculating their multi-year average for next season.

After scoring a 940 in 2009-10, URI scored an 896 in 2010-11, an 813 in 2011-12, and a 1000 in 2012-13. The Rams aren’t out of the woods yet academically. They’ll have to drop the 940 score for their 2013-14 score when calculating their new multi-year average. The abysmal 813 score from 2011-12 (the final season of the Jim Baron era) will remain part of the equation for another 2 years.

“The URI men’s basketball program, under the direction of Dan Hurley and his staff, has done a tremendous job of putting an emphasis on academic success,” said URI AD Thorr Bjorn. “We have formulated an NCAA-approved APR plan to not only ensure we are positioned well when the new requirements come into play, but are also positioned to achieve high academic success in the future.”

In 2015-16 and beyond, the NCAA will eliminate the 2-year average and teams will be required to hold a multi-year average of 930 or higher to qualify for the postseason.

How the NCAA Calculates APR

From the NCAA directly:

It’s a term-by-term calculation of the eligibility and retention of all student-athletes. A score of a thousand means every student-athlete on that team stayed eligible and returned to school. You begin losing points for students who are not eligible and/or are not retained.

Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one retention point for staying in school and one eligibility point for being academically eligible. A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate score.

The NCAA provides APR adjustments for student-athletes who transfer to another four-year school after earning a 2.6 grade-point average and those who leave in good academic standing for professional athletics careers.

How the RI Schools Stack Up

The average multi-year average for men’s basketball after the 2012-13 season is 957. Below are the APR scores for all 4 Division 1 basketball schools in Rhode Island.